Thursday, April 14, 2016

Oats Rava Ladoo is a delicious yet simple sweet dish to serve. It's easy to make & consumes very less time in making. This ladoo consists of oats, sooji for the grainy texture, sugar & other few ingredients to make it flavorful. There are different variations in oat ladoo's, but today I'm sharing the easiest recipe here. Make & enjoy this dish for Sri Rama Navami. You can make these healthy Ragi Oats Ladoo, Ragi Rava ladoo or try these other recipes like Rava Ladoo, Besan ladoo & Thokkudu Ladoo for this Ram Navami festival.

Now mix them well using your hand or a spatula. Rub ghee to your palm & scoop up a little mixture to form ladoo.

Make ladoo's with rest of the mixture. Store them in a air tight container for freshness & enjoy them.

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Monday, January 12, 2015

Madatha Khaja or Tapeswaram Khaja is a
delicacy of Andhra Pradesh & originated from the district of Kakinada.
These khaja's have been my favorite sweet since my childhood. I learned &
mastered making them perfectly from my mom.

While growing up I was the little
helper on busy days in the kitchen to my mom. Though I was never allowed in
kitchen for a daily cooking stuff, but when the tedious cooking for festivals
have to be done & which doesn't involves standing near the stove or
handling any hot stuff I was allowed to help her. That's when I got a chance of
learning in rolling the dough, cutting them & shaping them.

Lately, I was craving & dreaming
about this sweet & decided to make them for Sankranthi. My husband gave a
helping hand in frying & soaking them in sugar syrup, which made my job
very easy in making them. We ate few fried khaja's without soaking them as they
were irresistibly good to eat. It was fun making them together with my hubby
& also the loved them the way they turned out.

- In a large pan add maida, baking soda, salt & mix them. Add in ghee & curd to the flour mixture. Mix them well. Now the mixture will be little wet, but you still need some more liquid to form a dough.- Add in little by little water while making dough. The dough should be firm, smooth & not sticky. Cover it with a wet kitchen towel & let it sit aside for 1hr & no more than that.

Making Sugar Syrup- After waiting for 1hr now it's time to make the sugar syrup. In a wide deep pan {we need depth & width to a pan because it will fit more khaja's while soaking them} add sugar & water to it.- Keep the sugar water on medium heat & bring the syrup to string consistency. It will take around 10 to 15mins to get to that stage. Add in powdered cardamon & switch off heat.

Making Kaja's- Now take the dough & divide it to 4 equal balls. Dust the surface with rice flour where you are rolling the dough.- Pick a dough ball & roll it thin, as shown in the picture. Apply ghee to the rolled dough & sprinkle rice flour all over the rolled dough.- Roll the dough as shown in the figure & cut the khaja's as shown above. Next take one khaja & roll them lightly as shown above to make them long. Repeat the same with rest of the dough & proceed to frying them. {You can make the khaja's in 2batches}

- Heat pan with oil for deep frying. Once the oil is hot add in the first batch of khaja's & fry them to golden brown in color.- Once the khaja's are fried to perfect color add them to the sugar syrup. Allow them to sit for 5mins & in that time the khaja's will coat in sugar syrup perfectly.- Remove them on to a plate & allow them to dry for 15mins or till they are totally cool.- Arrange them in a air tight container & enjoy them for a long time. They will be good for 3 weeks or more.Note: - After staying for few days in a air tight container, sugar syrup on khaja's will slightly crystalizes. Nothing to panic & enjoy the sweet little one's.- You can skip adding soda totally. This is the first time I added & should say that there was no difference.- Add a pinch of salt to the the maida, along with curd & ghee if you want to eat them as they are without dipping in sugar syrup.- Don't allow the dough to rest for more than 1hr.- I used brown sugar instead of regular white sugar. It's your choice. The syrup making process remains the same.

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Monday, November 10, 2014

Rasam is a comforting & appetizing dish form Southern India. They are various versions of rasam dishes & one of those is "Lemon Rasam". The preparation is all same as the regular rasam & the only difference is we add lemon juice instead of tamarind pulp for the tanginess in dish.

Chakkara Pongali, as the name says Chakkara means sugar & Pongal means the boiling of milk. This pongal is generally made for sankranthi festival, but at my grand mom's place it was made for almost all festivals. This is one of the sweet dishes which is on high demand among kids. Generally when I visit my mom, she gives me options of my favorite dishes which she can cook for me & for me it's always Chakkara Pongali. I made this sweet on one of 9days of Navratri festival as a prashad to goddess. The one ingredient I missed is "Edible camphor/Pacha Karpooram" which is not available for me in near by Indian stores, but addition of that will make this dish much tempting & flavorful. Chakkara Pongali is little dry in consistency when compared to rice pravanam or rice kheer dishes.Enjoy !!!

- Soak rice & chana dal for 1hr. After 1hr strain water & keep aside.- Next in a deep pan take 2cups milk & bring it to boil. Add strained rice & chana dal to milk.- Cook on low heat until the rice absorbs milk, then add in left 1/2Cup milk. by now rice will be almost cooked.- Cook on low heat till the rice is cooked well. It might take around 15mins for a perfect cooked rice.

- Mean while in a bowl bring sugar & 2tbs water to boil. Allow the mixture to come together to a thick consistency. Switch off heat & mix it with cooked rice.- Place the pongal pan on stove. Now cook on low heat till the little left liquids disappear & it becomes thick. Switch off heat.

- Mean while heat a pan with ghee. To that add cashew, coconut pieces & raisins. Fry them till cashews are lightly browned, raisins are puffed & coconut pieces are lightly browned.- Mix with the cooked pongal & chakkara pongali is ready to serve.Note- You can pressure cook the rice, but it will mess up the stove when milk spills out. So for me it's a big no. - Coconuts add a nice flavor to this sweet. You can skip them if you are not a fan of them.- Don't reduce the ghee/butter content, it brings yum taste to the dish.

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Saturday, June 7, 2014

Coriander Peanut Chutney is a delicious chutney accompanies well with any South Indian Tiffins & also pairs well with rice too. In this chutney peanuts are the star & they can be felt in every bite along with other ingredients. This is a mildly spiced chutney & can be adjusted as per your requirements.

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Egg Pulusu is spicy tangy dish from Andhra Pradesh. Gravy for this dish is simple & very basic. Eggs are the star of this dish & when you use a fried egg the texture of it will make this dish much tempting.

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Rasam is a well known South Indian dish & without it the meal is never complete. This is a comforting simple dish which is healthy, appetizing & helps with good digestion.Rasam has many variations, based on the region & state. I'm sharing my mom's rasam recipe, which is little sweeter & tangier. Curry leaves & Coriander leaves or any one these leaves will add a lovely flavor to the dish. Rasam powder is the main ingredient in this dish. This powder is packed with flavors from different herbs & which are released in to rasam when it is added. Adding rasam powder at initial stage will make this much flavorful. Other rasam dishes- Pappu Charu | Toor Dal Rasam- Ulava Charu | Horse Gram Rasam | Hurali Saaru | Kollu Rasam

Prep Time-5mins | Cook Time-30mins | Serves-3peopleIngredients2Tomatoes finely chopped3Cups water 2Tsp rasam powder2Tsp tamarind pulp / Small ball of tamarind {adjust as needed}1/4Tsp turmeric2Tsp jaggery powder / 1Tsp sugar {adjust as needed}Few curry leaves Salt to tasteSeasoning1Tsp mustard 1Tsp jeeraFew methi seeds1Tbs butter/oil1/2Tsp hing {Asafetida} 2Garlic cloves choppedDirections - Take a vessel with water & to that add tamarind pulp & dissolve it completely. - If using the tamarind as itself, wash with little water & them soak it in 1cup of water for 30mins or till it gets soft. Squeeze water out of tamarind & use it part of 3cups water. Adjust the flavor as needed. - To that add turmeric, curry leaves & chopped tomatoes. - Add salt, rasam powder & bring to boil. Cook till tomatoes are soft & perfect. - Now add sugar & adjust salt if needed. {Don't switch off heat}- Heat pan with butter. - Add mustard, jeera & methi seeds to pan. - Once the mustard starts jumping add hing & garlic. - Switch off heat mix it to boiling rasam. - Switch off heat to rasam.- Serve with rice & dollop of ghee. Note- You can add both curry & cilantro leaves to the boiling rasam. - Don't over boil the rasam. - Once the tomatoes are done, it means rasam is ready.- You can add tomato puree instead of sliced tomatoes.

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Omelette in Mug - Yes, you read it right. I made an omelet in mug & it was awesome. I came across this recipe in a food site & decided on trying it. I like the traditional way of making omelet but, this way it reduces the make time & less messy too.This omelette is made of egg whites, but you can also use a whole egg if you like. Egg whites are filled with protein & I love getting protein through food rather than powders. I avoided using oil in this dish & off course you are free to use it. If you want to use oil, grease the mugs with some oil as needed. Using a microwave simplifies & takes less time in cooking. In this dish we microwave it for just 2minutes & the omelette is ready.

Prep Time - 5mins | Cook Time-2minutes | Serves-2peopleIngredients 5Egg whites1/2cup finely chopped onions 1Tsp red chilli powder {cayenne pepper}pinch of turmeric1/4Tsp garam masala powder {optional}Salt to tasteFew coriander leaves to garnishDirections - In a bowl add above ingredients other than coriander leaves. - Mix them well. Adjust salt & spiciness if needed. - Take 2mugs & fill them up half the way. - Now microwave it for 1minute. Take it out & mix the ingredients. - Now microwave for another 1minute.- If you find any liquid then microwave again.- Garnish with coriander & serve. Note- Microwaving time varies with instrument. Adjust time as needed. - You can add veggies if you like. - Always use bigger mug. - Grease the mugs if you like to. - You can use whole egg with out discarding yellows.

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Monday, January 27, 2014

Pickles & chutneys are my favorite side dishes. A south indian meal is never complete without them. It is also believed that having a spicy chutney as a course of your meal will help in good digestion.

The menthi avakaya I'm sharing is a temporary pickle & also has less oil compared to the traditional avakaya pickle.